It happens every day whether you know it or not. You see a billboard or watch a commercial and you don’t remember what it was trying to sell you. The ad placement was right, because you saw it. But the messaging fell short.

Before you put a single dollar into advertising, you need to have a fully developed creative strategy. What this means is answering the question “How am I going to grab the consumer’s attention?”

Here are some tips for crafting messaging and creative that’s going to be remembered…

One: Know how your audience thinks and acts. Get inside their heads!

Do you really know your audience? This is step number one for a reason, because essentially everything else your business does in way of marketing, advertising, and public relations will come back to knowing your target audience. You need to know their demographics, as well as their psychographics. How do they respond to situations? What motivates them? What turns them off? Do your research, even if this means coordinating focus groups to start, because this information creates a solid foundation upon which you can build the rest of your creative strategy.

Two: Speak their language. Use words that they would use.

Now that you know your audience, your creative strategy must reflect this knowledge. When developing your messaging, be sure to speak their language. Your target demographic speaks in a certain voice. For some, this is serious, straightforward, and technical. For others, you need a softer, more creative approach. Consider the age and intellectual level of your target demographic and let that dictate how you develop your messaging.

Three: Make the benefits of what you’re selling obvious and meaningful.

You only have mere seconds in advertising to get your point across. Don’t make your customers read between the lines to uncover the benefits of what you’re selling. Make this clear and obvious. Moreover, make sure the way in which you are framing these benefits are meaningful to them. A benefit that appeals to an older demographic, may not appeal to a younger generation. Again, know your audience and what motives them. Also, know their pain points and align them with how your service or product aims to solve this for them.

Four: You must always, always evoke some sort of emotion.

Knowing what emotion to evoke is an essential part of knowing your brand, and knowing your target audience. Some businesses do best when they make their customers feel happy and encouraged. Other businesses need to evoke a more serious emotion, such as if their product or service aims to address an issue related to health, finances, or IT threats. Scare tactics or overly negative ads have not proven to be effective, especially long-term, so you must strike the right chord.

Just like anything in life, start by focusing on the positive. Even if your business needs to evoke a serious emotion, consider “sandwiching” this between two positive emotions. This will allow your customers to experience the importance of what you provide, while still feeling hopeful and inspired to take action.

For a quick recap of these four tips, check out our Media Minute, with Mid-Atlantic Media Hub’s Cammi MacCall and Stephanie Shirley. We cover the most important basics of finding your right creative strategy…all in just 60 seconds!

If you remember nothing else when it comes to developing killer creative for your ads, remember that when you make your consumers feel something you are far more likely to stay top of mind!

Do you have another question related to messaging or ad creative? We’re happy to share our knowledge! Ask us a question and we’ll provide honest and direct feedback that will get you on the right track. Contact Mid-Atlantic Media Hub today.